Well, I am on Spring Break now until April 3......it is such a lovely break!! The last day of my Capstone before break started was interesting. A patient who had unexplained confusion almost bit me. Luckily, I was able to see her start to go for my hand, and was able to move it out of the way before she made my fingers her lunch......but it would have seriously sucked if she was successful. Bloodwork, shots, antibiotics, a pissed off clinical instructor who was just about to be leaving for a lovely vacation. It would have sucked. However, I actually was pretty fascinated by this patient, and when I got quizzed by the infectious disease doctor who got put on her case, I did pretty well according to him when he started asking me about WBC level difference in bacterial infections vs. viral infections, and learned quite a bit when I didn't know the answers.
I am feeling nervous about registering for my licensing exam, because its super-duper expensive, and I don't want to screw up the application and have to pay it all over it again!! I am also scared about the whole job search situation. So much that scares the crap out of me about what is up ahead, because there is very little I can do to control how it turns out, I can only wakit and see what happens.
Otherwise, I am enjoying things slowing down for a little bit and actually getting to spend time with my husband like a normal married couple, instead of me being married to my books and him being like a third-wheel. I am happy that my stress level has come down from a 20 on a scale from 0-10 to about a 5-6. Loving it so much!!
I have also found that I will buy a $2.50 newspaper from NY because it has ONE article that I really wanted to finish reading while I was waiting in line at Starbucks. Phenergan is an antiemetic that needs to be injected intramusculary, as it can cause gangrene if it is directly injected into a vein or gains access to arterial blood. So, someone who had a bad cases of vomitting might get this, and could potentially lose their arm. Yet, I was surprised to read that patients who receive this generic form of this medication have no legal recourse against the manufacture of the medication.
Why?
Because generic medications do not control what warnings are placed on their labels, because otherwise, they would be a brand name, and not a generic based on a Supreme Court ruling. So, if the Brand Name doesn't update a label to properly warn consumers of the dangers of that medication, neither can the generic medication manufacturers. This apparently relieves the generic manufacturer of any legal responsbility, and the consumer can not sue the brand name because they did not receive the brand name medication. However, I do truly believe the nurse/medical assistant is responsible here because I am sure that they didn't aspirate for blood return before injecting the medication, otherwise, this injury likely wouldn't have happened. Although, it is just as devastating to hear about a teen/young 20-something who now has ulcerative colitis, requires daily IV medications, and basically lost a ton of quality of life following having her large colon removed because she took a generic form of Accutane, which has been taken off of the market. Had she taken the brand name form, she could have participated in the number of lawsuits that awarded settlements to those inflicted with this awful side effect when all they wanted to do was clear up their skin.
I think it is completely awful that just because patients are taking a generic form, that they are basically stripped of their right to sue when they are injured because of failure by the drug companies to adequately warn them of the risks involved in taking it. Patients are given the generic version a large majority of the time, and aren't really even given a choice most of the time in the hospital. And how often do doctors now talk about side effects when prescribing medications?? Never, they assume you are reading that lil piece of paper the pharmacy gives you, which is not reader friendly in my opinion. It should be much simpler and say "You may get these symptoms (a,b,c) and its ok, they will pass; you may also get these symptoms (x,y,z) but its not ok, and you need to call your doctor, and to minimize side effects take the pill in the morning RIGHT BEFORE you eat, etc."
So anyway, that is my nerdy nurse rant for the day. It just saddens me to hear someone can lose an arm because they had some nausea and a nurse likely could have prevented it has they simply apsirated before injecting. Truly a shame.
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